ash  and  Davidson 
Monuments 


\ill   Text     of   the    Debate     Between    Congressmen 
Cannon    a?id   Kitcbin. 


Showing  Mr.  Kitchirfs  Faithful  Work  on  Behalf 

of  the  Bill  and  his  Expressed  Opinion,  that 

Guilford  Battle  Ground  Should  Have 

the  Monuments. 


MONUMENTS   TO 


GENERALS  FRANCiS  NASH  AND  WILLIAM  LEE  DAVIDSON. 


Congressional  Record,  Fifty-Seventh  Congress,  First  Session 
Washington,  D.  C,  July  i,  1902. 


Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  Mr.  Speak- 
er, I  ask  unanimous  consent  for  the 
present  consideration  of  house  joint 
resolution  No.  16.  to  carry  into  effect 
two  resolutions  of  the  Continental 
Congress  directing  monuments  to  be 
erected  to  the  memory  of  Generals 
Francis  Nash  and  William  Lee  David- 
■:'  North  Carolina. 

The  joint  resolution  was  read,  as 
follows: 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled.  That  the  sum 
of  .p. 000  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby. 
appropriated  for  the  erection  of  a  mon- 
ument in  honor  of  the  memory  of 
Brigadier  General  Francis  Nash,  of 
North  Carolina,  according  to  the  re- 
solution of  congress  passed  on  the  4th 
day  of  November,  1777. 

Sec.  2.  That  a  like  sum  of  $5,000  be. 
and  the  same  is  hereby,  appropriated 
for  the  erection  of  a  monument  in  hon- 
or of  the  memory  of  Brigadier  General 
William  Lee  Davidson,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, in  accordance  with  the  resolution 
of  congress  passed  on  the  20th  day  of 
September.  1781 

Sec.  3.  That  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  shall  pay  the  sums  appro- 
priated to  the  order  of  the  governor  of 
North  Carolina  whenever  required  for 
the  purposes  aforesaid. 

The  following  amendment  recom- 
mended by  the  committee  was  read: 

Strike  out  section  3  of  the  bill  and 
substitute    therefor    the    following: 

Sec.  3.  That  the  site  for  the  location 
of  said  monuments,  the  designs  for  the 
same,  the  conduct  of  the  work  of  erec- 
tion, and  the  disbursement  of  the 
money  hereinafter  appropriated  shall 
be  under  the  direction  of  the  secretary 
of  war.  who  shall,  however,  act  joint- 
ly with  the  Governor  of  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  as  far  as  may  be  prac- 
ticable, in  the  selection  of  a  location 
for  said  monuments." 

The  Speaker.     Is  there  objection? 

.Mr.  Cannon.  Mr.  Speaker.  I  should 
like  to  ask  the  gentleman,  has  this 
been  authorized  by  law  or  is  this  the 
authorization? 

Mr.  Kitchin.  This  is  the  authoriza- 
tion. 

Mr.  Cannon.  Two  monuments  are  to 
be  erected  somewhere  in  North  Caro- 
lina to  the  memory  of  two  Revolution- 
ary soldiers'' 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  Two  brig- 
adier-generals who  fell  in  the  forefront 
of  a  battle  in  the  Revolutionary  war. 
These  monuments  were  once  authoriz- 
ed by  the  Continental  Congress. 

Mr.  Cannon.  Why  were  they  not 
put  up  under  that  authorization? 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  It  may 
have  been  on  account  of  the  disturbed 
condition  of  the  country,  or  on  account 
of  the  poverty  of  the  Continental  treas- 
ury. In  any  event,  the  monument? 
were  not  built,  although  they  were 
authorized  by  the  Continental  Con- 
gress. 

Mr.  Cannon.  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  un- 
gracious to  object. 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  I  hope  the 
gentleman  will  not. 


Mi.  Cannon.  But  this  thing  of  mon- 
uments, seems  to  me.  ought  to  be  con- 
fined, except  in  very  rare  instances— 
and  it  seems  to  me  the  exceptions  are 
not  wise — to  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Mr.  Richardson  of  Tennessee.  They 
are  old  acquaintances  of  my  friend 
from  Illinois.  1  think  he  was  born  in 
North  Carolina  about  that  time. 
I  Laughter.) 

Mr.  Cannon.  They  died  just  before 
I  can  recollect;  but  I  know  my  friend 
from  Tennessee  had  full  acquaintance 
with   them.      (Laughter.) 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  Before  the 
gentleman  from  Illinois  interposes  an 
objection.  I  would  like  to  say  this  to 
him:  That  one  of  these  generals,  Gen- 
eral Nash,  was  the  colonel  of  the  First 
North  Carolina  Regiment.  He  was  af- 
terwards promoted  to  brigadier-gen- 
eral, and  was  ordered  to  join  General 
Washington  in  the  North,  where  he 
served  under  the  eye  of  the  great  com- 
mander with  distinction,  and  at  the 
battle  of  Germantown,  Pa.,  now  in  the 
of  Philadelphia,  he  was  was  mor- 
tally wounded  and  died  a  few  days  af- 
terwards. He  is  buried  in  the  Men- 
nonist  burial  ground  in  Kulpsville. 
Montgomery  County.  Pa. 

The  Continental  Congress  thereaf- 
ter, in  a  resolution  mentioning  his  gal- 
lantry and  bravery,  authorized  the 
ion  of  a  monument  to  his  memory. 
General  Davidson  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania, but  moved  to  North  Carolina 
when  a  child.  He  was  first  major  and 
finally  brigadier-general.  He  fought 
in  the  battles  of  Brandywine,  Mon- 
mouth, and  at  Germantown.  where 
General  Nash  fell.  He  was  severely 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Calsons  Mill, 
and  was  killed  at  the  engagement  of 
Cowans  'Ford,  on  the  Catawba  River, 
in  North  Carolina,  resisting  Cornwal- 
1  is'  march  northward.  Both  of  these 
men  fought  for  their  country's  liberty, 
and  they  poured  out  their  life's 
blood  in  that  behalf.  I  say  to 
the  gentleman  from  Illinois  that  the 
original  resolutions  in  the  Continental 
Congress  which  recognized  these  two 
brave  soldiers  directed  the  Governor 
of  North  Carolina  to  build  the  monu- 
ments, and  left  their  location  to  the 
discretion  of  the  Governor  of  North 
Carolina. 

We  have  in  North  Carolina  the 
Guilford  Battle  Ground  Association.  It 
has  reclaimed  this  famous  battle 
ground  at  Guilford  Court  House,  which 
Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "Thirty  Years  in 
the  United  States  Senate,"  says  led  in- 
evitably to  Cornwallis'  surrender  at 
Yorktown.  This  battle  ground  has 
been  reclaimed  by  the  patriotic  citi- 
zens, who  have  also  erected  many 
small  monuments  there,  and  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  of  each  year  thousands 
of  people  from  various  parts  of  our 
state  pay  tribute  to  the  principles  of 
liberty,  independence,  and  sacrifice 
which  actuated  our  revolutionary  an- 
cestors. I  certainly  hope  that  the  gen- 
tleman from  Illinois,  with  this  expla- 
nation, will  not  object  to  the  present 
consideration  of  the  resolution.  I  think 
these  monuments  ought  to  be  erected. 


In 


The  location  is  left  with  the  secretary 
of  war  and  the  Governor  ol  North  Car- 
olina, so  far  as  th<  >r  can  aid 
him  In  It  and  in  my  opinion  Guilford 
Battle  Ground  should  be  the  spol  fav- 
iiroii  with  their  location. 

Mr.  rami. mi  Well,  thi  Be  were  two 
gallant  BOldiers,  I  have  no  doubt  The 
Continental  Congress  noted  In  word, 
but  not  In  deed.  So  far  as  those  gal- 
lant  man  are  concerned,  following  the 
of  Swedenborg,  they  know 
nothing  of  It. 

Mr.  Sulzer  Are  you  a  Swedenhor- 
glan? 

Mr.  Cannon  (continuing).  No  douM 
there  are  other  heroes  in  ihe  celestial 
heavens,  wherein  we  all  hope  to  attain 
a  position.  Simply  and  purely  from  'i 
standpoint  or  public  service  although 
it  may  si  <':n  to  be,  perhaps,  not  a 
courteous  thing  to  do — from  sympa- 
thy with  everybody  who  performs  his 
duty  well,  having  broken  the  record 
as  our  friends  will  claim,  and  i 
pretty  near  to  it.  as  we  will  admit, 
lot  us  leave  something  for  the  liber- 
ality of  Congress  and  the  Treasury  to 
do  at  the  next  session.  We  will  ab- 
solutely have  nothing  to  do  to  earn  our 
salary.  I  must  now.  with  all  due  res- 
poet  to  my  friend,  purely  impersonally 
object. 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  Mr.  Speak- 
er. I  regret  that  the  gentleman  ob- 
jects, and  move  to  suspend  the  rules 
and  pass  the  joint  resolution  No.  16. 
with  the  amendment  that  the  Commit- 
tee on  the  Library  recommends. 

The  Speaker.  Does  some  one  object 
to  unanimous  consent? 

Mr.  Cannon.  I  think  I  object.  Mr. 
Speaker. 

The  Speaker.  The  gentleman  ob- 
jects. The  gentleman  from  North  Car- 
olina moves  to  suspend  the  rules  and 
pass  the  joint  resolution  with  the 
amendment  recommended  by  the  com- 
mittee. 

Mr.  Cannon.  On  that  I  demand  a 
second. 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  Mr.  Speak- 
er. 1  ask  that  a  second  may  be  con- 
sisdered  as  ordered. 

The  Speaker.  Is  there  objection? 
(After  a  pause.)  The  Chair  hears 
none.  The  Chair  recognizes  the  gen- 
tleman from  North  Carolina  on  the 
one  side  and  the  gentleman  from  Illi- 
nois on  the  other. 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  I  merely 
wish  to  say.  Mr.  Speaker,  in  addition 
to  what  I  have  said,  that  this  bill,  or 
a  similar  resolution,  has  passed  the 
Senate  for  the  last' three  Congresses 
and  in  thef  orm  in  which  it  was  in- 
troduced into  this  Congress.  The  Com- 
mittee on  the  Library  offer  an  amend- 
ment, striking  out  the  third  section 
and  inserting  a  new  section,  pertain- 
ing to  the  location  and  design  of  this 
monument.  I  will  say  to  the  gentle- 
man from  Illinois  that  we  have  al- 
ready passed  some  monument  bills 
during  this  session,  one  carrying  an 
appropriation  of  $25,000  and  one  $50.- 
000  and  one  of  $100.000 

The  Speaker.  The  gentleman  from 
North  Carolina  will  suspend.  The 
Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  desires  to 
present  a  conference  report  on  the 
naval  appropriation  bill. 


JO 


Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.     Mr.  Speal 


er 

The  Speaker.  The  gentleman  ironi 
North  Carolina  has  nineteen  minutes 
remaining. 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.     Mr.  Speak- 


ei .  it  I  can  have  ih.-  attention  ot  the 
gentleman  from  Illinois  (Mr.  Cannon), 

b  to  say  thai  t he  1 1  been 

liberal   with  the  monument    b 

II    l.a 

slon.      Wo   ha\  I  :.ill   a-ui  b 

Ing  a  monument  to  Qen.  Hugh  Met 
also  a  Revolutionary  bero,  that  ca 
$25,000  ami  directs  that  the  n 
shall  ho  built  in  the  city  of  Pi  i 

burg.   Va.     That,   it  is  a 

striking  i'1  :i  of 

i  be  ■•  monument  a  in  t  he  State  of  t< 
Carolina  if  the  Secretary  ol  W 

it  Ide,  tor  be  will  ha\ 
of  that  question,  acting  with  the 
ernor  of  North  Carolina  as  far 
ticable. 

We  have  also  pa-sod  a  bill  for  a  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  to  eommeni' 
the  martyrs  of  the  British  prison  Bh 
We    have    passed   a    bill   appropriating 
$26,000  to  take  the  preliminary  Btl  i 
ward   a   monument   to   President   Lin- 
coln.     How    can    the  gentleman    from 
Illinois  Dnd   it    in   his   heart  to  op, 
this  little  bill   for  $10,000?     1    ren 
to  say  that  it  is  the  smallest  bill  of  this 
character    and    equal    merit    that    this 
House   has   ever   been   called   upon   to 
consider.     Substantially  the  same  pro- 
on  had  the  support  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress.     This  bill  has  passed 
the  Senate  repeatedly,  and  it  has  been 
favorably  reported  by  the  proper  com- 
mittee of  this  House  three  times,  now. 
to  my  knowledge,  and  I  do  not  know 
how  many  times  before. 

The  gentleman  says  that  building  a 
monument  to  these  men  will  do  them 
no  good.  Is  the  gentleman  going  to 
erect  that  great  monument  which  he  a 
few  days  ago  advocated  for  President 
Lincoln's  benefit?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  Does 
Washington's  monument  stand  down 
there  for  the  benefit  of  George  Wash- 
ington? Not  a  bit  of  it.  Why.  the 
gentleman  from  Illinois  knows  that  we 
build  monuments  because  of  the  purest 
sentiments  that  come  from  the  human 
heart —  in  order  to  bless  the  living,  in 
order  to  encourage  those  great  princi- 
ples that  guided  the  lives  of  the  men 
whom  we  honor  by  monuments.  We 
build  monuments  to  patriots  to  -teach 
men  patriotism,  to  teach  men  that 
when  they  act  patriotically,  their  des- 
cendants and  other  generations  will 
honor  them.  If  monuments  should  be 
built  to  any  men.  they  should  be  built 
to  those  who  have  died  in  the*  cause  of 
human  liberty,  in  the  cause  of  national 
independence,  who  died  resisting  the 
oppressions  of  British  rule  and  British 
colonialism.  How  can  you  find  a  man 
more  fit  to  be  honored  by  a  monument 
than  General  Nash,  who  fell  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Germantown.  or  General  David- 
son, who  fell  resisting  the  march  of 
Cornwallis  north  through  Carolina? 

So  I  think  if  you  want 
to  teach  the  people  of  North 
Carolina  patriotism,  if  you  want 
to  tie  them  in  closer  bonds  to  this  gov- 
ernment, you  should  erect  these  monu- 
ments there,  paid  for  out  of  the  feder- 
al treasury.  Erect  them  at  this  great  \ 
gathering  place  (Guilford  Battle  \ 
Ground)  where  the  patriotism  of  North 
Carolina  comes  together  on  the  Fourth  J 
of  July.  If  the  gentleman  from  Illi- 
nois will  help  me  in  this  he  will  do  3 
great  service  to  the  people,  because 
when  you  encourage  the  spirit  of  pat- 
riotism in  any  section  of  this  great 
country  you  are  helping  the  grand  total 
of  our  people  in  that  respect.  (Ap- 
plause). 

I  reserve  the  remainder  of  my  time 


Mr.  Cannon.  I  ask  the  attention  of 
the  House  for  a  minute  because  in  the 
closing  hours  of  the  session,  when 
everybody  is  feeling  good  and  hoping 
to  get  home  soon,  everything  is  relax- 
ed here  and  we  do  things  all  along  the 
line  that  we  would  not  have  done  at 
any  other  period  in  the  session.  I  am 
always  very  glad  when  the  hammer 
falls  and  final  adjournment  occurs,  be- 
cause on  a  day  like  this  no  one  realizes 
exactly  the  scope  of  what  we  do. 

I  was  born  in  North  Carolina.  (Ap- 
plause.) Somebody  said  once  "You 
could  not  help  yourself."  (Laughter). 
But  I  am  proud  of  being  born  there,  in 
a  Quaker  settlement  of  small  land- 
owners— humble.  God-fearing  people, 
better  than  their  descendants  in  that 
respect,  perhaps.  A  way  back  sixty 
years  ago  we  went  over  the  moutains 
to  the  wilderness  of  the  West.  Now. 
my  birthplace,  while  I  have  not  been 
there  since  that  time,  is  dear  to  me. 
My  home  where  I  have  lived  for  sixty 
years  is  dear  to  me.  And  I  will  say 
again  that  perhaps  it  may  seem  un- 
gracious to  oppose  a  bill  like  this.  I 
am  proud  of  the  history  of  North  Car- 
olina, and  of  every  State.  I  am  proud 
of  the  achievements  of  the  Revolution- 
ary fathers.  I  am  proud  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  heroes  of  1812,  and  of  the 
Mexican  war,  and  of  the  civil  war.  and 
of  the  late  war.  But,  after  all  is  said 
and  done.  I  sometimes  grow  a  little 
weary  when  the  common  patriotism 
and  common  pride  in  the  progress  of 
our  race  is  made  an  excuse  to  do  this, 
that,  and  the  other,  that  really  no  great 
number  of  people  desire  to  have  done. 
I  had  not  much  pride  in  what  happened 
yesterday  touching  two  appropriations, 
but  that  is  past  and  gone.  I  am  not 
here  to  scold  about  it. 

I  doubt  the  propriety  of  making 
appropriations  from  the  National 
Treasury  to  erect  monuments  any- 
where outside  of  the  District  of 
Columbia.  Here  we  are  supreme,  the 
capital  of  the  nation.  Here  we  gather 
the  revenues  and  make  the  expendi- 
tures.. Here  is  where  all  the  people 
come.  So  that  I  have  quite  generally 
voted  for  whatever  memorials  have 
been  proposed,  if  they  came  in  due 
shape  with  the  emplacement  thereof 
here.  I  sometimes  could  wish  that  all 
the  great  battlefields  and  everything 
that  would  memorialize  great  events 
of  our  history  could  be  marked.  Many 
of  them  are. 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  May  I  ask 
the  gentleman  a  question? 

Mr.  Cannon.  Just  a  moment.  I  will 
yield  to  you  before  I  get  through. 
Many  of  them  are.  There  is  scarcely  a 
county  throughout  the  northland  bin 
what  you  will  find  monuments  to  the 
memory  of  the  soldiers  who  fought  for 
the  union  in  the  late  war.  Constructed 
how?  By  the  people.  The  men  and 
the  women  and  the  children  have  tak- 
eE  up  collections  here  and  there  and 
accumulated  them  until,  five,  ten,  or 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  have  beer, 
collected,  and  each  man,  woman,  and 
child  feel  as  if  there  had  been  sacrifice 
made  for  the  monuments  that  com- 
memorate the  achievements  of  the  il- 
lustrious dead.  That  which  cost  some- 
thing we  appreciate. 

Sometimes  I  have  felt  that  an  ob- 
jection to  our  higher  school  system  is 
that  it  has  not  cost  much.    That  people 


appreciate  the  common-school  system 
— the  three  R's  are  all  right  from  the 
standpoint  of  national  good  and  nation- 
al education,  but  we  have  got  in  the 
habit  of  injecting  hypodermically,  il 
seems  to  me,  education  which  comesj 
with  trifling  cost  into  people  that 
not  want  it.  We  appreciate,  I 
again,  that  which  costs  something,  aj 
that  patriotism  that  causes  people 
the  various  localities  to  lay  aside  a  d<| 
lar  here  and  there  and  gather  it 
gether  and  erect  a  monument  is 
right  kind  of  action  and  the  right  kifl 
of  sentiment  to  foster. 

I  have  sometimes  wished,  and  i 
inclined  to  think  I  would  possibly  vo| 
for  the  erection  of  a  monument  at 
national  expense  to  commemorate 
battle  of   Kings   Mountain,   where 
mountaineers,    reenforced     under 
lead  of  Gen.  John  Sevier  by  Tenne! 
seans.  after  a  long  march  through 
ley   and    over  mountain,   fought 
great  battle.     (Applause  on  the  Den 
cratic  side.)     But  I  would  prefer  not] 
go   beyond    that.     True,    we    voted 
erect  a  monument  to  the  memory 
General   Mercer  down   in   Virginia, 
think    that    was   a    mistake   from    tl 
standpoint  that  I  am  speaking  of,  a\ 
I  believe  now  that  the  best  way  is 
stop    the    construction    of   monumen 
to  commemorate  the  character  and  sq 
vices  of  illustrious  men  from  the 
ginning  of  our  history  outside  of  Wa 
ington,   so   that    I    have   demanded 
second,  and  I  feel  as  one  that  it  is 
duty  to  vote  "no"   upon  this  propc 
tion.     Now  I  yield  to  my  friend. 

Mr.  William  W.  Kitchin.  I  ask 
gentleman,  after  reminding  him  th 
the  patriotic  citizens  of  North  Carj 
Una  have  contributed  their  money 
built  several  monuments  on  Guilfol 
Battle  Ground,  whether  the  gentlemj 
— since  the  Continental  Congress,  co 
posed  of  the  contemporaries  of  the3 
brave  men.  had  authorized  the  gov^ 
ernor  to  erect  monuments  to  them- 
does  not  think  that  would  except  this 
joint  resolution  from  the  ordinary 
monument  cases  and  justify  him  in 
supporting  monuments  for  these  men 
outside  of  the  District  of  Columbia? 

Mr.  Cannon.  I  will  say  to  my  friend 
it  seems  to  me  not.  I  recollect  in  my 
service  in  the  House  that  Congress  did 
make  a  small  appropriation  toward 
the  improvement  of  the  battlefield  of 
Guilford  Court-house,  and  that  has 
been  expended  with  contributions  made 
by  the  patriotic  citizens  of  the  locality 
and  of  North  Carolina.  But  Congress 
took  good  care  after  it  made  this  dona- 
tion to  divorce  itself  from  the  main- 
tenance. Now,  this  is  upon  a  differ- 
ent ground.  That  is  all  I  have  to  say 
about  it. 

The  Speaker.  The  question  is  on  sus- 
pending the  rules  and  passing  the  bill. 

The  Speaker  proceeded  to  put  the 
question. 

Mr.  Cannon.  I  think  I  will  take  a 
rising  vote. 

The  house  proceeded  to  divide. 

Mr.  Cannon  (during  the  count).  Mr. 
Speaker,  it  is  evidently  the  sense  of  the 
House  that  the  bill  pass,  and  I  with- 
draw the  demand  for  a  division. 

The  Speaker.  Two-thirds  having 
voted  in  favor  thereof,  the  rules  are 
suspended  and  the  joint  resolution  as 
amended  is  passed. 


